Saturday, January 22, 2011

Why is Effective Communication important?


Communication is a very important aspect of life as it connects each and every human being with one another, be it individual or groups.

In social settings, people communicate to share their thoughts, emotions and experiences. In work settings, information has to be disseminated efficiently and effectively. No doubt, communication plays a very important role in the process of development in all fields.

In reality, lacking of such important skill puts you in a lot of disadvantages. For example, if you are not being able to express yourself well or articulate properly, people might think that you are not intelligent or not well educated.

Personally, I think that I am just an average communicator.Therefore, there will be times where I feel left out in a group conversation. Of course, this feeling does not feel good. Also, effective communication skills are also crucial during job interviews where the 1 hour of 'interrogation' by the interviewers could be the determining factor for your future. Therefore, I am looking forward to the week that teaches skills to handle job interviews. Besides, effective communication skills are also the key to building a better relationship with your family and friends because it can mitigate interpersonal conflicts and this will make the relationship even stronger.

4 comments:

  1. Hey CJ,

    I like how you have highlighted that these communication skills that we are going to learn will also be applicable for our family and friends.

    With the title "PROFESSIONAL Communication" we might lose track of the fact that these skills can apply to ANY interaction we have with people and we interact the most with our loved ones. Which will make these skills very important in improving the quality of our relationships.

    And yesss I am looking forward to our 'interrogation' sessions too! they sound like they're gonna be quite fun haha.

    zab

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  2. Hey Cai Jie,

    I do agree with you that it is a disadvantage if one is unable to communicate properly. I am sure most of us have many great ideas in our heads, but it is all a matter of putting them into proper words so we can tell them to people.

    I think one has to give a good first impression to succeed at job interviews. Like you said, the skill of communicating effectively will come in handy, especially when a 'tough' question is thrown at us.

    I recalled going for an SMU accountancy interview before entering to NUS. One of the questions asked was "Let's say your boss asks you to hide a large sum money, would you do it?"

    The answer was pretty obvious but it was a matter of convincing them that I would never do such a thing that was tough.

    Anyway man, may we all be effective communicators in the end!

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  3. Hey CJ,

    I agree very much with your point that effective communication is important in a social setting. It may not seem so as we're communicating with people we're already familiar with, but it's definitely useful to transfer messages in the most effective and efficient manner. I believe it helps to reduce misunderstandings as well.

    I also agree that effective communication is a vital skill to have for interviews. I believe this skill goes hand in hand with having a cool head; I remember throwing away my chance at entering dentistry school in NUS because it truly felt like an interrogation session. I got so nervous that I didn't even mention my purpose for wanting to study dentistry.

    Of course, I'm sure there are other crucial skills we'll be learning later. Looking forward to it! (:

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  4. Cai Jie, thank you for the sharing!

    You'd discussed, in a very concisely written post, pragmatic reasons why and how communicating effectively would and could benefit you in work and in life - excellent job!

    Looking forward to reading more of your posts!

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